Twitter founder Jack Dorsey-backed Gridless to mine Bitcoin with renewable energy and power rural Africa
American news media CNBC interviewed Gridless, a startup that aims to supply electricity to rural areas in Africa while also mining sustainable cryptocurrencies by utilizing the abundant renewable energy resources in the country.
Gridless | On the Frontier of Bitcoin Mining in Africa
Bitcoin miner Gridless, backed by Block, builds site at Kenya Volcano
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/20/bitcoin-miner-gridless-backed-by-block-builds-site-at-kenya-volcano.html
Gridless, a decentralized renewable energy venture, is expanding its Bitcoin mining business in Africa with the support of Block, a payment service company led by Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter (now X).
The 500-kilowatt mobile container, installed on the shores of Lake Naivasha in Kenya, a place of abundant natural beauty, is one of six 'Bitcoin mines' that Gridless has installed in Africa. The container uses geothermal power from the extinct Hell's Gate volcano to help maintain the Bitcoin network with renewable energy.
Bitcoin, the most popular virtual currency, is generated using a method called
In addition, it is said that 40% of virtual currency mining takes place in the United States, 20% in Russia, and 15% in China, posing challenges to decentralization, one of the important functions that underpins Bitcoin.
Moreover, Bitcoin will undergo its fourth halving on April 20, 2024, which will halve the reward for validating transactions, making it difficult for small miners to be profitable. This is expected to further accelerate the concentration of mining.
'Most people think about the price of bitcoin and how to store and spend it,' Gridless CEO Eric Hersman told CNBC. 'But without a globally distributed network of bitcoin miners, there would be no secure bitcoin.'
In addition to decentralizing the Bitcoin network, Gridless also has a mission to bring energy to people in Africa, where approximately 600 million people still lack access to electricity.
According to the official website, Gridless has supplied electricity to 1,200 homes in Zambia, 1,800 homes in Malawi, and 5,000 homes in Kenya. Gridless' mining sites also provide electricity to container refrigerated warehouses for local farmers, battery charging stations for electric motorcycles, and public Wi-Fi points.
Gridless mines Bitcoin and powers its neighbors using surplus energy that would otherwise be wasted.
'Oftentimes, there's a surplus of electricity during the day or at night, and there's no one to take that energy,' Hersman said. 'But with mining, you can take advantage of that surplus electricity at any time of the day. These mining containers, made from shipping containers, are full of machines that just keep repeating the same calculations over and over, so they don't look very smart, but they're actually what power the network.'
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